Lok Sabha election 2019: TDP faces strong challenge to retain Bapatla seat

Between 1977 and 2014, the Congress won the seat six times while the TDP won it five times, but the YSRCP is a serious challenger to the TDP this time..

Bapatla, one of the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh became a reserved seat for Scheduled Castes ahead of the 2009 general elections. The constituency where polling will take place on April 11, is spread across Guntur and Prakasam districts of the state.

The TDP has renominated Maluadri Sriram, its sitting MP from Bapatla in Andhra Pradesh. (HT PHOTO)

Between 1977 and 2014, the Congress won the seat six times while the TDP won it five times.

In the 2014, TDP’s Maluadri Sriram won the seat defeating YSRCP’s Varikuti Amruthapani by over 32,000 votes. The TDP has re-nominated Sriram to fight from the seat once again while the YSRCP has named Suresh Babu Nandigam as its candidate. This time too, the YSRCP is shaping up as the TDP’s main challenger.

Jesudasu Seelam is the Congress candidate. The BJP has nominated Ch. Kishore Kumar for the Bapatla seat.

According to the 2011 census, out of a total population of 1852533, 84.47% is rural and 15.53% is urban population. The Scheduled castes (SC) and Scheduled tribes (ST) ratio is 23.83 and 4.74, respectively out of total population.

Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Bapatla

Reservation nature of constituency: SC

Sitting MP, Party: Maluadri Sriram, TDP

Winning margin in 2014: 32,754 votes

Runner up name, party: Varikuti Amruthapani, YSRC

Number of voters in 2014: 1,392,965

Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 85

Number of polling booths in 2014: 1587

Number of women voters: 706,483